Markie Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 Came up with a problem yesterday. My sister noticed in the sunshine that my car had damn swirley fine scratches all over the car.. Needless to say I was well annoyed!!! I have not noticed it with the dull weather we have had before the sun. I dont think its from the washing, as they look like the polishing/buffing circle motions. Please guys, is there anything I can do to get rid of these. Any like magical stuff Also some tips on the washing and polishing if anyone has. I currently use bucket and sponge thing for washing, then leather for drying. Polish I use dusters... Any advice please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelG Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 Swirl marks are caused by either adding / removing polish in a circular motion, and / or orbital buffers having been used incorrectly. You will need a fine cutting polish to remove the swirls now, but depends how bad they are. BUT......Before i start if its not too late, can i just say to you NOT to use T-Cut on a black/dark car unless you have experience of doing that before. You can actually do more damage if you use T-Cut than good, and its not an easy job, especially on a black car. The problem being that T-Cut needs applied pressure with the cloth, and if you dont do it properly you will end up with lots more swirls and fine scratches. A black surface is one of the hardest to get a good finish on without making it worse. To start with buy a good quality shampoo, i was selling sonax on the forum but am sold out just now, so buy yourself some Meguiars Gold Class shampoo or something else of fairly good quality, and hand wash the car with warm water and this. Then.............dry the car thoroughly and leave it to dry off completely for an hour or so.........water is a pain in the a55 if you hit it when polishing. Then..............i would get yourself some good quality polish like Auto Glym Super Resin Polish and go over your car with this. BUT............the key to a dark car is to apply the polish with a clean cotton STOCKINETTE cloth in STRAIGHT lines only and not circular motions as this causes swirling. Trust me i have seen it hundreds of times lol. When that is dry remove it again in straight motions with a clean cotton terry towel type material, an old bath towel cut to size is perfect. See how you feel after doing that, if the paint still needs a little more work, i would suggest you find somone who has a machine polisher as it works wonders on dark finishes and is a godsend for removing swirls and fine scratches really quickly. But this can only be done by someone trained to do so or again you can do more harm that good. If done properly you wont beat the finish. This can be used to apply various grades of cutting polish to rid the car of the swirls etc. My preference is to wash the car with sonax and dry it with a chamois, Super Resin Polish the car and then Auto Glym Extra Gloss Protection as a last stage. But i Diamondbrite all my cars which cant be beaten AT ALL for shine...........see the website for details.......... http://www.diamondvalet.co.uk Its all down to what you want to do and how good your ability is mate. But buy the best of stuff mate, as your car is worth it ! Its a shame you didnt live closer to me and i could do it for you lol ! Any more questions feel free........... Regards Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbeh Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 Autoglym is good stuff. Some good tips there Michael. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markie Posted March 22, 2005 Author Share Posted March 22, 2005 Thanks for that info fellars. Will give her a treat on the weekend Will let you know how it goes.. Just glad there is a way forward to remove the dredded swirls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbeh Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 I think as he said its just a case of going against the swirl/direction of the swirl with more polish, more hard work etc, its a pain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennMR2 Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 i use autoglym and heres the results http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/6/web/798000-798999/798380_25_full.jpg [/img] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuttynutz Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 sort of, MichaelG, i get confused with all these different types of cleaning/polishing products, are they all just pointless products which many products overlap in treatment. clay bar, shampoo, resin, polish, wax, gloss, protection etc etc. whats the best combination? considering i havnt treated the car in a long time. and how to treat it then after. you state "My preference is to wash the car with sonax and dry it with a chamois, Super Resin Polish the car and then Auto Glym Extra Gloss Protection as a last stage" is that it then? three simple stages. thanks Ollie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbourner Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 The main problem seems to be people get confused between different wax and polish, because they all have different abbrasive levels. A polish is abbrasive and will cut away the paint before adding a protective layer when you 'buff' it. A wax should be completely unabbrasive (comes in a tin and is almost solid) and just adds a shiny layer over the top of whatever's there!! So really you should wash it regularly, and maybe polish it every 2 weeks, clay bar once a year followed by a proper wax. That should do it. I'm sure MichaelG can give you a better run through than that though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelG Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 It all really depends what condition your paintwork is in....... 3 examples........ Flattish / Fine scratched / swirled paint. Best bet here is to either get someone with a machine polisher to do it for you, or if you are capable, get a fine grade cutting polish and do it yourself. But it is a LOT easier with a machine polisher, preferrably twin headed (single headed are terrible IMHO) The machine polisher will do all the hard work for you and as long as you go in a straight line motion along the car panel again it shouldnt be too much hard work. A few hours tops usually if the car is quite bad. The grain of the polish will vary depending on how badly swirled / scratched / oxidised the car is. Paintwork generally good but polishing swirls can be seen in sunlight etc Easiest solution for this is to use a good quality shampoo, chamois leather, allow the car to dry completely, and then to use a polish such as Auto Glym Super Resin, with a bit of pressure in STRAIGHT lines, and again remove in straight lines as much as poss with a terry towel cloth. Turning the cloth frequently. If this doesnt work, one of my personal preferences here is to apply the same polish but remove it with the machine polisher then run over the car with a terry towel.........the results are amazing !! Twin headed buffer/machine polishers can cost about £200-300 for a good one. Will post some pics at the bottom of the page of what i mean. The simplest of the three is..... Car has great paint just needs keeping tip top Wash the car with best shampoo you can get your hands on, chamois dry the car, apply a coat of auto glym super resin polish, or Meguiars NXT Generation Tech Wax and remove with terry towel, then apply a coat of Auto Glym Extra Gloss Protection. If funds permit i would however suggest having your car Diamondbrited as we treat cars with here. Pic to follow will show why......... Thats about it really, when i got my soop, it had the usual swirls etc a bit, and i spent a few days, machine polished it twice, once with a cutting polish, once with Radiant Wax (auto glym trade polish) and removed with machine polisher, applied super resin polish, removed with machine, applied super resin, removed by hand with terry towel, once happy with the finish, i applied a couple of coats of extra gloss protection (auto glym) removed by hand with terry towel, and then the daddy......i diamondbrited the car. Now all i do is wash it with Sonax and Chamois it down every time..... This is the result...... Michael. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuttynutz Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 great advise there michael thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soonto_HAS_soop Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 Great finish Michael, and photos 2 & 3 are perfect examples of the dreaded, and highly fecking annoying, wing mirror and spoiler run off. I hate it when mine does that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbeh Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 Michael, how do you apply the Autoglym extra gloss protection? I've only used it once and didnt notice any differece. Felt like I was doing extra work for no better result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Getrag Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 ....yeah, same sort of question from me: I've always applied wax in a circular motion, spending some time rubbing it in. Do I just need to apply it in straight lines, one at a time and leave for a bit then buff? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuttynutz Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 hehe think this thread could solve all our cleaning/polishing problems once and for all, with the expert advice from MichaelG lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelG Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 Bobbeh - Just as you would a polish except leave it on for an hour "ish" i swear by it as an alternative to Diamondbrite Getrag - STRAIGHT LINES STRAIGHT LINES !!!!!!! And just towel it off in a similar way. I should make up a video of myself doing it, anyone be interested ? lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbeh Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 To me it just looked like i was putting clear grease on it... but you reckon a wait will be good, ok I'll try it next time I kinda put in on a patch, cleaned it off, and thought 'hmm, this didnt do shat!' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soonto_HAS_soop Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 After about 20-30 minutes it will go cloudy white. I tend to do what Michael does, and that is to put several coats on in one go, i.e. 1 coat, wait, take off, apply second. Once you do this it will help to keep a protective coat on the paint. I do that twice or three times a year and it normally keeps the car easy to clean over the winter months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Getrag Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 A video of Michael buffing one off, id buy that lol, seriously though, think you should do a cleaning faq Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelG Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 Bobbeh - Hell yeah you gotta leave that stuff on there at LEAST 30 mins Getrag - Buffing off not cracking one off lol I honestly wish you guys could see the benefit of a twin headed machine polisher, only a video clip / in person would do though /l. I have SO many people who ask me to machine polish their car after seeing the Red Soop though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Getrag Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 So you gotta leave any wax on for 30mins before buffing? Whats the risk of a machine polisher catching a bit of grit and causing a nightmare? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markie Posted March 22, 2005 Author Share Posted March 22, 2005 Using an electrical polisher I thought was a bit dangerous, as if too much pressure, it will take the paint right off. Is this right? As I was brought one for XMAS but never used it becuase I was scared Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbeh Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 Nah thats BS, unless you're really dumb. Its a heating issue you want to be careful of, ie concentrating on one particular area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelG Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 Hamish - Just the extra gloss, the longer the better, most polishes can be removed as soon as they are dried. Markie - LOL its not that high a chance. If you are using a VERY coarse pad for very bad oxidised paint then yeah maybe then you could catch a bit of grit. But you would notice any effects in a few seconds anyways as you are constantly looking at the panel you are doing anyways. Bobbeh is right..........its more about concentrating on not "overheating" or overbuffing a precise panel.......this can lead to scorching the paint. If you have bought a single headed orbital polisher, dont use it....sell it or throw it in the bin. They are crap. They are nothing more than angle grinders with soft pads on. 90% of the cars i see with swirls on, have been caused BY a single head orbital buffer. Jeez, halfords are selling these things for like £20 and sending folk away to use them and the folk think it will work wonders.........only to end up making their car worse cos the unit they purchased is pathetically slow and the pad is about the size of a dinner plate !! To give you an example..........i use a twin headed buffer, the pads range in texture, and are about 3inches in diameter MAX. If you dont know what to do with an orbital polisher then my advice is to SERIOUSLY not even attempt it. Its one of the hardest jobs to do on car valeting / paintwork refinishing. Hope this helps Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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